A report compiled by the Historic Buildings Council in 1995 found that many of these Conservation Areas had been badly hit by the Troubles with their historic fabric torn apart and structures weakened. There was much dereliction with little if no economic regeneration, with many upper floors of buildings underused or vacant and hundreds of buildings were in need of considerable repair. Although there has been some grant aid available through the Planning Service, very often the buildings were inappropriately repaired and the town or village centre remained rundown.
In recognition of these problems the Heritage Lottery Fund introduced the Townscape Heritage Initiative scheme, which offers substantial funding to Conservation Areas in Northern Ireland. In all 14 schemes have been approved to date, with a promise of over £8 million pounds Heritage Lottery grant. Some of the schemes are run by local community groups and others by District Councils.
Further information on Conservation Areas within Northern Ireland can be obtained from the Planning Service.
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The Planning (NI) Order 1991 (Article 50) provides for the designation of an area of special architectural or historic interest as a Conservation Area. Northern Ireland currently contains 58 Conservation Areas- yet many people are unaware of their existence, their significance and their potential contribution to the economic regeneration of our towns and villages. 
Gracehill was the first area to be designated as being of special architectural merit and historical interest in 1975 and since then Conservation Area designation has provided protection to the cores of many of our towns and villages. The list is immensely varied reflecting the many facets of Northern Ireland’s history – plantation settlements such as Draperstown or Moneymore, landlord villages like Caledon and Saintfield, the industrial hamlet of Bessbrook and linen towns such as Sion Mills and Lisburn, the coastal ports of Killough and Carnlough and the railway town of Whitehead.
